Monday 25 July 2022
| Distance (km) | 16 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 7 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 985m / 700m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 20% / 80% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 34° 1 Bft
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A new day and hopefully yesterday's short stage pays off today with an easier walk. We have quick breakfast but in the end it is still 8:30 when we finally leave the appartment.
We have to cross back passing the central square again and follow the tarmac for a while. In the shadow the temperature is ok, but we can already feel the sun burn
as soon as we're out of the shadow. We pass the gite of Tavernes and leave the car road while descending a bit to the Charmaix stream. Right over the stream along the few houses
of the hamlet Les Herbiers the 4x4 track goes up steeply, and keeps doings so back into the forest. There are a few moments of rest, but most of the track is just very very steep all the
way to the next hamlet: Le Lavoir. Here we get back the car road again and we have a few hundred gentle meters to Le Lavoir. The hamlet is actually larger than we anticipated with 10-12 houses and a small buvette (mobile bar) that hasn't opened yet. Here I realize that for tomorrow we need to arrange a taxi to bring us from tomorrow's destination (Plampinet) to the camping in La Vachette. I have mobile reception here in Le Lavoir so I give it a try. And indeed, in my best French I arrange the taxi for tomorrow at 15:00 from the parking next to the bridge in Plampinet. They write down my name and that's it. We can continue now and after this short gentler section it goes up with a vengeance again. In little distance we gain another 150m altitude bringing us to 2100m now when we reach La Losa. Supposingly another hamlet, but in practice only 2 houses slightly apart. The landscape is more open now and that has the advantage of catching a tiny bit of wind. Before reaching the farm house La Replanette the track splits and both branches indicate the col we're heading for, and both indicate it's the GR5. But the left branch seems to descend a bit first and all we descend we have to climb again later....so we choose the left branch. We pass La Replanette and the track now becomes a single path. From here to the top is rolling withoug gaining much more altitude and so we reach Col de la Vallée Etroite, the first mountain pass of this year. The little pond at the pass is a dried out collection of rocks and cattle dung. It is a very dry summer. We have a short lunch break and start the descent. The first kilometer is nice and easy, but then the track plunges down to Plaine de Taverne. This section is steep and very rocky and we make very slow progress. Once on the plane we have another gentle section again were we decide to have our second break for something to eat. It is here that an italian lady passes us and asks whether this is really the trail to Les Granges, which we confirm it is. She doesn't seem to be very convinced yet but says she will continue and wait for us if she gets uncertain. Fine with us of course, but she better have patience as we're slow descenders. Just beyond a small pond we reach the second steep part of the descent. We're on some kind of plateau and we can see Les Granges in the distance and it looks sooo far from here that Lupita is having a deep sigh wondering how long that will take us. But one thing at a time: first this horrible rocky winding descending section that again takes us a lot of time and then further down to bridge (Pont de la Fonderie) over the Vallée Etroite stream. From here it descends only gentle and we're also getting more and more people on the road so we must be getting close. At just before 16:00 we reach Les Granges were we have to find the shuttle bus to Pian del Colle in Italy, from where we can take a free bus to downtown Bardonnecchia where we arranged an hotel for the night. Les Granges also has 2 refuges, but with dormitories only and we rather have our own room. Nevertheless, I can ask for directions to the bus stop in the first refuge we pass and they point me to the bar at the end of the hamlet. We walk there and see the mini-van that is our shuttle. It's 16:00 sharp and the shuttle leaves....at 16:00. How lucky are we! It's a 15 minutes drive down to Pian del Colle where the driver drops us at the bus stop for the city bus into Bardonnecchia, a bus that arrives only minutes later. And so we arrive at our hotel at 16:30 after a very long and hot day. But a shower and a great meal in a local restaurant compensate for a lot. |
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